Daddy's Girl

Mary has become quite the Daddy's girl. She wants to be where Daddy is. If she hears him in the house her face lights up and she says "Daddy!" over and over again until we find him. He is currently working on preparing her new room for her so we can get the nursery ready for baby #2. So, of course, Mary wants to be in there too:

She literally wanted to be right where daddy was:

Great Reminder

I was reading my favorite parenting blog today and she reminded me of a wonderful principle: actions precede understanding. To give you the run down...you teach your children right behavior (actions) even before they understand why they should or shouldn't do things. This is why I don't give Mary what she wants unless she says please, let her throw balls in the house, let her jump around on furniture, stand on tables, or touch the fan in her room. The list could go on... the point is she doesn't understand why she can't do these things, but I do. Most of them are unsafe or the incorrect/irresponsible use of things in the house. Eventually I will be able to explain why so that she understands.

Even more important than in my parenting this reminded me of a spiritual truth. It is not always necessary to know WHY God has called me to something (or called me out of something else). The only thing I need to know is what he wants me to do and I should do it. Eventually I will be with him and things will make sense, but for now all I need to do is trust that he is able. I've even noticed in my life that I will see the purpose in things after I did them and will be full of wonder at what God did. I'll think I knew why I was doing something or going through something, but when it's all said and done God shows me even more why I had to go through it. So cool:)

Sprinkler

Today we, and by we I mean Mary and Ian, played in Mary's new sprinkler. I think Ian had more fun than Mary did, but she definitely enjoyed it! She also got to spend some time cuddling with Daddy to get warm after running through the cold water.



I'm 33 weeks along now with baby #2! Things are going well, just starting to get uncomfortable. I have a prenatal massage scheduled for this week so I'm pretty pumped for that! I'm kinda wondering how that's going to work out though with the big belly and all. She said she uses pillows and works with me on my side. Should be good!

Unconditional love pt. 2

I wanted to share a couple things that I love about Ian:) He really cares about his students. So much so that he is willing to share the truth with them. They talk a lot about dating. Mostly because that's on most middle schoolers minds a lot (if not most people's minds), but also because they know how he feels about dating before you're ready for marriage. He's not for it.

Anyway, they always try to come up with reasons why you should date. Most are pretty funny. For example: to learn what you like and don't like in a person of the opposite sex. Our immediate thought is, 'Do you really need to date people in order to see what you like in people???' I mean I can tell you what you will want in a spouse and I don't have to date people to figure it out: real love, honesty, commitment, good communication skills, open communication, the same beliefs morally and spiritually, etc. Come on kids. Although I'm a little harsh, I thought Ian's response was a good one. He asked the kids what they were practicing by dating a bunch of different people. They were silent. He said, "You are practicing divorce. You are getting into the habit of ditching someone when you find something annoying or undesirable about them." This makes so much sense. You get good at what you practice!

Some of his students really begin to appreciate Ian sharing with them. I know he has an impact on their lives. And I know he shares in a way that makes kids feel they can talk to him because a lot of them have. He comes home with stories about kids who are just broken in two because of heartbreak and they can see how the road their on is leading no where. Granted, they are 14 and will get over it rather quickly, but it's still real to them. And I love how Ian validates them. God does the same for us. Psalm 33:17 says, "He made their hearts,so he understands everything they do." We have a God who understands us.

Finally, the other day Ian told his students that even if someone offered him a billion dollars he wouldn't divorce me:) I hope the guys in his class are paying attention and can become men like him someday.

unconditional love

Since having Mary, God has taught me a lot about the way he loves us. It's easy for me to learn this way because I have her right here in front of me. Some days it takes a lot of effort to choose to keep on loving her. It takes a lot of effort to speak gently and kindly to her, although firmly sometimes:) But it's worth it. Why? Because I hope that she will see God's love through me. And that is the way God loves us. Through his choices. He chose to reveal his love to us through Jesus even though it was painful. Even though he probably wasn't in the mood to see his son go through what he had to do. I say that because I am rarely in the mood to see Mary in pain. Only when she's being really whiny;) But even then I have to remind myself that she was given to me as a gift. Thankfully God has really given me that heart for her: to see her as a gift even when she is not acting the way I would have her act. I wouldn't change a thing about her. And that is exactly how God feels about us. He loves us for who we are and not for who he wishes we would be. He is patient with us while he teaches us.

Jeremiah 31:3 says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness," and Romans 2:4 says "Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?" This is who God is. I'm so glad that I have a God who is patient and kind toward me. I want to be this way to my kids.

Sound the bells

The potty bells:)We've been putting Mary on the potty for about 2 weeks now. We got the advice from a friend (and from Baby Whisperer) to start putting kids on the potty at an early age so they get used to sitting on it. And they eventually will go on it through sheer probability. Then you really hype it up when they go in the potty. So I thought why not give it a try. I wanted to go with a pretty laid back approach anyway since baby #2 is going to be here in 2 months. Plus, I've seen kids get pretty anti-potty as they get older. Well yesterday was Mary's first time hitting the mark. I was so excited I think I scared her. I'm not always the most patient person when I don't see results (it's not a virtue, I'm just being honest), so I was thinking of calling it quits. But I think we'll continue putting her on a few times a day and see how it goes.

The world of words

In the past month or so Mary has had a language explosion. Don't get too excited. Compared to her vocabulary before it doesn't take much to make an explosion:) She just repeats everything we say now whereas before she couldn't care less. My favorite is that our friend Jacob was teaching her where her knee was yesterday. He kept saying knee and pointing to her knee, and she kept responding by pointing to her knee and saying, "me." We tried to enunciate but it's just really cute to see her say it like that. And she does it over and over again. She's getting pretty good at the body parts, now we need to start working on letters!

In totally unrelated news I'm starting to feel big. There has come a point in each pregnancy when things just start to feel crowded and I can't really breath properly or eat large quantities. This is particularly a problem in the eating department because I love to eat large quantities of food! But I'm learning to eat smaller meals so that I don't feel like I'm going to puke after each meal. At least I haven't had heartburn! I feel bad for people who get that because heartburn feels like Satan is drilling a hole into your chest. Oh, and I'm 30 weeks today!